Blondy Baruti finds peace at Mesa High

The unspeakable horrors he saw growing up in the Congo, atrocities he still isn't comfortable talking about today.

The cousin, Christian Kalanga, who brought him to America but, according to Baruti, betrayed him by trying to broker him to the highest bidder.

Then, last January, on the night before his 18th birthday, the 6-foot-9 forward was told by Mesa High basketball coach Shane Burcar that the Arizona Interscholastic Association had ruled him ineligible for the final half of the season and the first half of this season.

"I cry all night," Baruti recalled.

This wasn't the America Baruti envisioned, a land of freedom and opportunity, a place to start anew.
"Too many problems," Baruti said. "Too many problems."

Thankfully, the problems have melted away. Kalanga is no longer in his life. Baruti is again playing for the Jackrabbits. He has a scholarship to play basketball at Tulsa next year.

This is the America Baruti dreamed about.

"He's been through a lot," Burcar said. "It was heart-wrenching to see him have to go through everything. But he's ecstatic now."

The AIA had no choice but to suspend Baruti. He was living with the parents of Jackrabbits assistant coach Brandon Blitz, a connection that screamed recruiting even if the family was only trying to help Baruti escape the clutches of Kalanga, whom they considered a con man.

But there's also little doubt that Baruti was caught in the middle of something he didn't fully understand. All he wanted to do was play basketball. Instead, his life became the flip side of the popular movie, "The Blind Side."

"I know why I was suspended," he said. "But I was innocent."

Kalanga's alleged actions hurt him deeply. He was family, the one person Baruti thought he could trust. But the knife didn't truly plunge deep until Jan. 12 of last year when Burcar gathered his players in a circle after practice and told Baruti he had been declared ineligible.

"He was hysterical," Burcar said. "He came into the locker room and went nuts. He was cussing up a storm. It was his birthday, blood screwing you over, he knew he wouldn't be able to play against Mountain View the next day … all those emotions were flowing through his body."

Baruti was certain he never would play for the Jackrabbits again. Over the summer, he visited schools in Illinois and Mississippi, thinking he would resurrect his career elsewhere. But he decided to return to Mesa High.

In his first game back, on Jan. 8 against Tucson Pueblo, Baruti had 10 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. He's still trying to shake off the rust, but he's slowly becoming the kind of dominant big man that should make Mesa a threat to win the state title.

More importantly, his life has calmed down.

The bounce of a basketball has given him peace.

Reach Bordow at scott.bordow@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-7996. Follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/ScottBordow.